Just about everyone knows that apples are one of the healthiest foods you can eat. After all, the saying 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' has hung on for more than a hundred years.
While apples may be notorious for their potential benefits for health, in some parts of the world, it's customary to discard the most valuable part.
I'm talking about the peel...
When most people think about eating an apple, they associate most of the nutritional goodness with the fleshy part of the apple. However, it's the peel – not the inside – of the apple where the most nutrients can be found.
The peel of the apple can contain as much as six times more nutrients than the flesh.
Of course, sometimes it makes sense to peel an apple before eating, especially if it isn't organically grown.
Conventionally grown apples typically make the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Dirty Dozen list every year because of pesticide residues. Even worse, they're often coated in wax to extend freshness.
Who wants to bite into a wax-coated apple, especially one that may contain residues of potentially harmful chemicals – some of which aren't even approved for use in countries outside of the United States?
I don't and I don't believe you would either.
Let's take a look at what makes the peel of a healthy, organically grown apple so special...
What's Special About Apple Peels?
One of the reasons why it's so desirable to obtain nutrients, especially antioxidants, from plants is because plants have developed effective ways to handle the toxic effects of oxygen.
When we eat plants, we get some of those antioxidants, which can help your body manage oxidative stress.*
Apple peels are loaded with more than 60 different antioxidant compounds, including polyphenols, flavonoids, triterpenoids, anthocyanins and proanthocyanins.
Here are some of the major antioxidant compounds found in apple peels and the potential benefits they offer:
- Polyphenols support healthy blood flow, brain function, digestion and help maintain blood sugar levels already in the normal range.*
- Flavonoids, a family of polyphenolic compounds, help regulate cellular activity, fight off free radicals, and support healthy blood pressure levels already in the normal range.*
- Quercetin, a flavonoid in apple peels, supports healthy histamine activity and immune health.*
- Triterpenoids, active compounds that support an already normal inflammatory response.*
- Proanthocyanins that promote cell health, as well as heart and cardiovascular health.*
- Anthocyanins, the compounds that give apple peels their red color, support healthy cells and tissues.*
- Ursolic acid, an active compound in the triterpenoids family, that supports the maintenance of lean body mass and an already normal inflammatory response.*
- Pectin soluble fiber supports the body's normal detoxification processes, while aiding in digestion, healthy elimination, immune function, weight management and promoting already normal blood glucose and cholesterol levels.*
- Prebiotic insoluble fiber to promote healthy digestion.*
How Apple Peels Promote Healthy Aging
Because apple peels are so loaded with antioxidants, they can help defend against oxidative stress – a condition that can occur when your body produces more free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) than its natural antioxidant system can handle.
So, what is oxidation?
Take a rusted bicycle for example... when iron, which makes up the bicycle frame, reacts with oxygen in the presence of moisture, it forms iron oxide, commonly known as rust. This is oxidation.
This process not only changes the appearance of the bike but also weakens the metal over time. As iron oxidizes, it creates a reddish-brown coating on the surface, which can eventually lead to significant deterioration if left untreated.
The same thing happens in your body with normal everyday functions such as breathing and eating.
As you breathe, you take in oxygen. When you exercise, you breathe in even more oxygen which causes oxidation. Even your body digesting and metabolizing the food you eat leads to oxidation.
Oxidation is a normal process that is always occurring. It isn't a bad thing – your life depends on it.
It's excess oxidation that's the problem. Oxygen can have a toxic effect on your body just as it does on a bicycle.
Many factors can greatly increase reactive oxygen species, or ROS, production, including UV light, pollution, heavy metals, food additives, pesticides, plastics and various drugs.
And here's the problem with that... Excessive oxidation is linked to aging and health issues.
The increased production of these unstable molecules can damage cellular components like DNA, proteins, and lipids, leading to cardiovascular, cellular, joint and metabolic concerns.
Oxidative stress can also impair your immune system, making your body more susceptible to threats and reducing its ability to repair damaged tissues.
By helping to repair damage and protect the normal functioning of your cells and tissues, antioxidants – especially polyphenols and flavonoids – can help neutralize oxidative damage caused by excess oxidation.
Support Your Gut Health With Apple Peels
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) also function as signaling molecules, which in excess, can be damaging to your gut health.
If you have a healthy gut with the right proportion of beneficial bacteria, it can typically defend itself against excessive oxidative stress.
However, most people don't have a healthy and balanced gut microbiota, simply due to everyday factors, such as diet. This can cause levels of ROS to rise.
Long-term exposure to ROS in your gut can lead to gastrointestinal issues. ROS can damage intestinal epithelial cells, or the cells that line the surface of your intestinal walls.
Your intestinal epithelial cells are vital to maintaining a healthy relationship between your gut microbiome and your body's immune function.
Research shows that the abundant antioxidants in apple peels can help guard against oxidative stress and the damaging actions of ROS in the gut.
Apple peels are also packed with both soluble and insoluble fiber, including pectin, which your gut microbes can use as an energy source.
Your healthy gut bacteria break down the pectin and transform it into beneficial short-chain fatty acids, such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate.
The insoluble fiber found in apple peels is also great for your digestive system.
Insoluble fiber helps keep things moving through your gastrointestinal tract by providing bulk and drawing water to your stools to make them easier to pass. In short, it helps speed the passage of food through your digestive tract.
The Cardiovascular-Protective Qualities of Apple Peels
Every organ, cell and tissue in your body depends upon healthy blood flow to receive oxygen, nutrients and to remove wastes.
Therefore, the healthier your blood vessels, the healthier your brain, eyes, heart, skin, muscles, joints as well as every other tissue and organ.
The health of your blood vessels depends upon a smooth vessel lining, called the endothelium. The smoother and more flexible the lining, the better the blood flow.
A four-week study of 30 participants took a closer look at how the flavonoids in apples – found predominantly in the peels – influence endothelial function and arterial stiffness.
The results? Positive effects on the participants' overall cardiovascular health, including endothelial function and arterial flexibility, were observed during the study.
In another recent review of the research on the potential cardiovascular benefits from apple peels, the author noted the following effects, attributed to the high level of flavonoids in the peel:
- Supported healthy endothelial function*
- Promoted healthy blood pressure levels already in the normal range*
- Helped maintain healthy blood flow*
Introducing Organic Apple Peel Advanced with AppleActiv DAPP™
Apple peels offer so many potential benefits for health, so we've come up with a convenient way to tap into their antioxidant value... without biting into a single apple.
Certified USDA Organic, our Organic Apple Peel Advanced contains 500 mg of AppleActiv DAPP™, a dried apple peel powder (DAPP) derived from organic apples sourced from non-GMO orchards in North America.
Containing more than 50% dietary fiber, AppleActiv is rich in antioxidant polyphenols with an impressive profile that includes anthocyanins, ursolic acid, quercetin, flavonoids and triterpenoids.
To ensure you get the benefits of the abundant antioxidants, each serving of Organic Apple Peel Advanced provides a standardized dose of 15 mg of Polyphenols.
Incidentally, the “poly” in Polyphenol means “many.” And when there are many nutrients present in a natural substance, you benefit from a unique quality called synergy.
Synergy is when one nutrient helps the others perform better than they would on their own – not unlike a team of athletes who complement each other with their skills.
With solid research behind it, the potential benefits of AppleActiv DAPP include the following aspects of health:
- Antioxidant support against oxidative stress in cells and tissues*
- Promotes joint comfort, mobility and a healthy range of motion*
- Helps maintain an already normal inflammatory response*
- Promotes healthy aging by supporting cell health*
- Supports digestive health and comfort*
- Helps maintain healthy, normal blood glucose and cholesterol levels*
Regular consumption of an organic apple peel supplement, such as AppleActiv DAPP, may help your body protect itself against oxidative stress, promote healthy aging and support gastrointestinal health.
AppleActiv DAPP™: Support Joint Comfort and Flexibility
I don't have to tell you that your joints affect how well you live your life. As you grow older, it's normal to feel the wear and tear from years of activity.
However, it typically doesn't become an issue until stiff and occasionally achy joints stop you from doing what you love most.
What if there was a way to help you move with greater ease and comfort?
Increasing your intake of certain antioxidants appears to be a potential answer.
Using the industry standard antioxidant test CAP-e (Cellular Antioxidant Protection in erythrocytes), AppleActiv DAPP has been tested for its antioxidant content.
By measuring the ability of an ingredient to neutralize free radicals and protect cells from oxidative damage, the CAP-e test can identify which substances might be most valuable.
In a study, people consumed AppleActiv DAPP daily for 12 weeks. After only two weeks, participants showed an increase in this blood antioxidant protection capacity. The level of antioxidant protection continued to increase over the remaining 10 weeks.*
These findings suggest that AppleActiv DAPP is easily absorbed and utilized by the body – and a potentially useful ingredient for supporting joint health.*
Indeed, research shows AppleActiv DAPP benefits joint comfort, mobility and flexibility. What's more, it's the only dried apple peel powder on the market that has valid research behind it...
In another 12-week human study of healthy individuals, daily consumption of AppleActiv DAPP improved range of motion in the neck, shoulders, back and hips, and promoted healthy joint function and comfort.*
The study results also showed statistically significant improvement in blood levels of antioxidant protection, which is likely linked to the effects of the polyphenols.*
Another study showed that consumption of AppleActiv DAPP protects cells from oxidative damage and promotes an already normal inflammatory response by targeting certain enzymes.*
So, if your joints are holding you back, it only makes sense to see what Organic Apple Peel Advanced with AppleActiv DAPP could do for you...
Why Organic Matters With Apple Peels
When choosing an apple peel product, I can't stress enough how important it is to insist that it is derived from organically grown apples.
Conventionally grown apples often fall near the top of the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Dirty Dozen list because they can contain residues from an average of more than four different pesticides, including some at high concentrations.
One of these is a plant growth regulator, diphenylamine, that is used after harvest to prevent the skin of apples in cold storage from developing brown or black patches known as “storage scald.”
Most non-organic apples are drenched in this chemical. In fact, the Department of Agriculture, in its most recent tests, found diphenylamine on 80% of conventionally grown raw apples.
While American apple growers may claim that diphenylamine isn't a threat to health, European officials don't agree. Beginning in 2014, they banned any imported apples and pears treated with the chemical.
The European officials' concerns center on the possible formation of nitrosamines on diphenylamine-treated fruit. Nitrosamines form when nitrogen-containing compounds combine with amines, like diphenylamine.
Nitrosamines have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, and some studies suggest that people who eat foods with nitrosamines may have higher rates of stomach and esophageal cancers.
To this day, however, the U.S. EPA still allows producers to apply unlimited quantities of diphenylamine to non-organic apples.
As bad as this may be, diphenylamine isn't the only concern with conventionally grown apples. Non-organic apples are also treated with the following insecticides, herbicides and fungicides:
-
Chlorpyrifos
An organophosphate insecticide that can damage the human brain and nervous system, including paralysis and death in high doses. It was banned for household use in the U.S. in 2000 but has recently been reinstated for use on apples.
-
Captan
A thiophthalimide fungicide that can cause conjunctivitis and dermatitis in low quantities, and gastrointestinal stress in higher quantities.
-
Paraquat
A potentially harmful herbicide linked to Parkinson's disease. Banned in about 60 countries worldwide, it is used in enormous apples in the U.S. on apple trees.
-
Bifenazate
Can be easily converted into bifenazate diazene in apples, which has long-lasting effects that may be toxic to organisms.
-
Neonicotinoids
A group of insecticides that includes acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam. All but acetamiprid are banned in the UK and EU because they threaten bee health, and thiacloprid is considered a human carcinogen. They are widely used on apples, and can't be rinsed or peeled off.
Organic Apple Peel Advanced is sourced only from organic apples grown in non-GMO orchards in North America.
Could Organic Apple Peel Advanced Help You Age Youthfully?
Taking a daily dose of Organic Apple Peel Advanced may be one of the most important steps you can take to promote healthy aging.
Here are just a few reasons why...
- The active ingredient, AppleActiv DAPP, has been shown in studies to promote joint comfort, mobility and flexibility (it's the only dried apple peel powder on the market that has valid research behind it).*
- As shown by the industry standard antioxidant test CAP-e, AppleActiv DAPP provides powerful antioxidant support against oxidative stress in cells and tissues.*
- The high levels of flavonoids in organic apple peels support healthy endothelial function and blood flow, while promoting healthy blood pressure levels already in the normal range.*
- The abundant antioxidants in apple peels can help guard against oxidative stress and the damaging actions of ROS in your gut to support digestive health and comfort.*
- Through its potent antioxidant effects, AppleActiv DAPP helps maintain healthy blood glucose and cholesterol levels already in the normal range for metabolic and cardiovascular health.*
Why not take action and order your supply today of Organic Apple Peel Advanced to see what it can do for you?